Strength from the Top of the Mountain

Why Crystal is Opening for One Day of Skiing Tomorrow

Maybe you’ve already seen it on Facebook. Perhaps you are one of the lucky 75 to comment first on Crystal’s post today. If so, you’ve heard the stoke. After a little investigative reporting this morning, when a few of us rode the gondola for some “exploratory turns” in Green Valley, my husband’s eyes grew wide. What if we could open up and let a small number of people ski this early snow? What if we limited it to just 50 or so people? Could it be done? We really shouldn’t let this snow go to waste.

This is how John’s mind works.

Even though this is a business, even though we are supposed to think about things like “the bottom line” and making a profit, really he’s in this business because he loves to ski.

He knows what skiers want because he’s one of them.

John turned his “what if” questions into reality this afternoon, by opening our online commerce page to 51 lucky people. So many people tried to buy those tickets, the site crashed. I’m not quite sure how many people it takes to crash a website, but I’m guessing it’s a lot.

View into Green Valley this morning

So we shifted to Plan B, which offered 75 tickets to the first people to comment on our Facebook post (we wanted to open it to more because many, many people were glued to their FB page, unable to get anything else done).

Keith Rollins and Martin Rand, rock stars

And now it’s really happening. We are going to run the gondola tomorrow for some lift-assisted backcountry skiing to 75 very lucky people.

It’s going to be a hoot.

Green Valley this morning

There are still pockets of the ski industry that aren’t corporatized. Some ski areas are still run by people with a passion for the sport. And I’m so fortunate to be married to one of those people.

Thanks for sharing a behind the scenes look, your hubbie is a true inspiration. I believe John is practicing good snow karma by showing appreciation for the white stuff and good things will continue to happen, both on a spiritual level and to the bottom line.

Been checking that snowfall for a couple of days–you lucky devils! Thought we had a ton of snow here in the Tetons, but what you all are getting smashes our amounts. Glad my friend Ed Z. was one of those lucky enough to ride up today; a worthy candidate for the first ski day! Have a flippin blast…which goes without saying. ;)

That is so cool! Have fun today. This is a ski passion I grew up with. Even if it’s just one day, a few turns you guys rock!

If you ever want to jump into another “project” ski area. You are welcome to our mountain in the central sierra, Bear Valley. Ot’s for sale and we dearly need someone like your husband to come a resurrect this once thriving and magnificent mountain. All we have know is corporate control/ solely for profit owners. Our opening date hasn’t been announced but guaranteed it will by Dec 21st!!